MSc in International Management Program Requirements

Pursue a Masters that gives you the theoretical and practical base you need to move to the next level in an organization and your career, while you experience different cultural lenses through which to view leading and managing in organizations around the globe. Every class is intimate in size but huge in the perspectives offered by peers representing many cultures and socio-economic systems. Complement core requirements in leadership, strategy, finance, ethics and operations with the opportunity to delve further into potential areas of interest such as managing global communications, economics, negotiation, and international relations.

Core Courses:

BA5001 Accountability & Representation

Management accounting and control entails the processes managers use to make decisions based on costs and organisational performance and to exert influence other members of the organisation in order to accomplish organisational strategies. The course aims at providing an understanding of the issues around that goal, presenting the main managerial accounting and control tools and systems. We will discuss their implementation in concrete organizational settings. A particular emphasis will be put on human dynamics, motivation, recognition, goal congruence, etc.
The course will be a combination of cost determination and management analysis with focus on both traditional and contemporary concepts. We will begin by examining how product and customer costs are estimated and the impact this information has on the organization’s strategy formation and decision-making. The focus will be on cost behavior and will help develop your ability to use cost information in decision-making. We will then proceed to an in-depth examination of cost information for decision-making in both short and long term situations, highlighting some of the potential traps for managers in using management accounting information and control systems out of context or inappropriately. The course will conclude with a discussion of various methods managers use in performance evaluation, illustrating how managers may use some of the tools we learned in the course.

This course concentrates on the role of the manager as an agent for efficient and ethical decision making in modern organizations. Classical and modern philosophical views (variants of the utilitarian, deontologist, and Marxist views) of ethics are presented and applied to a variety of business case studies set in various locations and industries worldwide. The course also explores the deontological variations and interaction with different legal contexts around the world.

This course offers an in-depth overview of Management & Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources concepts, including conventional and critical management studies, sociological and psychological approaches. Focus on understanding of structure and work organization; the impact of technology; organizational culture; managers and decisions; power and organizational control; human resource management and the future of work.

This course introduces basic and advanced marketing concepts and their use in management-specific situations and applications. We will consider how individuals and firms process information to make decisions, and how firms determine and meet customer demand, needs and desires. Core issues that are covered include the marketing mix, market segmentation, positioning strategies, branding techniques, and international marketing strategies. We also consider how to combine market research data, financial data, and business strategy to make marketing decisions that best meet customer demands and desires, respond to competitors, and reach financial and strategic objectives. This course will be case-driven, with background given on advanced marketing topics though case studies, supported by lectures, discussions, simulations, and written analyses. The course will also examine the marketing function from a variety of professional and critical perspectives.
The course considers marketing within national and multi-national contexts. A key component of the course is to develop a thoughtful and critical understanding of marketing practices and to gain the ability to implement concepts in professional environments. The main method of student evaluation will be the student’s ability to effectively utilize the tools and methods in case studies, as well as through simulated and real projects.

This course introduces students to a broader understanding of strategies pursued by companies, countries, and regional groups in a global business and economic environment. The linkages between the global economic environment and the strategic options open to key stakeholders such as countries, and multinational enterprises (MNEs) are explored through case studies. Also, “topical” issues that affect the global economy and the strategic options pursued by key stakeholders are discussed. The course also addresses how specific international leaders play a key role as developers and implementers of strategic options.

This course introduces the tasks and challenges fundamental to project and operations management with an emphasis on organizations focused on innovation, creativity and fluidity (such as mission-based organizations, creative enterprises, and entrepreneurial organizations). Students will learn the vital skills of managing complex projects across multiple functions. Successful project managers possess the skills necessary to manage their
teams, schedules, risks, and resources to produce a desired outcome. Students will learn the skills and tools of project management by using both practical “hands-on” approaches as well as by applying theory to practice.
A key and often overlooked challenge for project managers is the ability to manage without influence or authority in order to gain the support of stakeholders and access to resources not directly under their control. This course guides students through many of the fundamental operations and project management tools and behavioral skills required in both private sector organizations as well as with NGOs and governmental organizations. There is a special emphasis on causes of project failure and how to mitigate these issues through proper planning in the early phases of a news initiative.

Elective Courses:

Choose one course from the graduate offerings with your advisor's approval. This list includes the following courses:

CM5025 Communication & The Global Public Sphere

This course focuses on the concept of the/a public. Discusses how media and political actors rhetorically constitute the public; how they (and occasionally governments) constitute “public spaces”(virtual and material) in which public discourse takes place, and how institutional and technological forces constitute “public opinion” and articulate “the public interest.” On the other hand, we will consider how political economy of media and social practices facilitate or stifle spaces, political actors, and publics. The course will also compare contemporary manifestations of public-making with Habermas’s theory of the public sphere, which he thought was an area of social life vital to a legitimate democracy. The potentiality, control, and use of new communication technologies are explored in relation to the existence and future of a global public sphere.

This course examines the dynamics of the global media system. Students will gain a critical awareness of how international flows of information, entertainment and lifestyle values play a powerful role in shaping cultural and political realities. The concept of "soft power" is key in examining the influence of Western pop culture, whether as "imperialism" or as "globalization". The course examines soft power in various forms: Hollywood movies, television series, pop music, Disney cartoons, fast food such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds, and social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The course also analyzes the influence of non-Anglo-American pop culture — from Turkish soap operas to Latin American "telenovelas".

This course provides an introduction to ‘Development Communications’ and to the communication practices that promote development, material change and social justice. The course explores the historical development of the field and the fundamental theories and figures and disciplines- from international development to mass communications-that have defined it as a distinct area of communications study and practice. Through numerous case studies, students explore intercultural and interpersonal communication on local, regional, national and global levels and examine numerous examples of development communications campaigns and civic media focusing on issues of public health, education, women’s empowerment, fair trade, and environmental, economic and cultural sustainability.

How does communication work as local government bodies, civil-society actors and NGOs put together sustainable development initiatives? How can communication be made to work better? Cutting across disciplines, this practicum allows students to see individuals, groups and communities in collaboration (and sometimes conflict) in a South Asian context marked by the 2004 tsunami. Based in the international eco-community of Auroville (Tamil Nadu, south-east India), students will explore substantive areas including micro-credit, health care with special reference to HIV/Aids, socially responsible business and environmental management. On-site visits and team-work are central to the course, leading to the production of multi-media reports on the interface between communication, development and sustainability. This course has an extra course fee - to guage an estimated cost, the fee was approximately 1600 euros.

This course provides an introduction to basic concepts, methodologies, and empirical studies in comparative politics. As a subfield of political science, comparative politics is generally understood as the study of political processes and structures of all possible kinds from the vantage point of international comparison, sometimes for the mere fact of covering a country or region other than one’s own (so-called “area studies”). A few substantive themes that have traditionally preoccupied political comparativists: development, democratization, regime change, etc. will be addressed in the introductory part of this course. The second part is on the origins, development, and functions of the modern state, forms of interest representation and state-society relations, and on how different political regime forms condition different political and policy-making dynamics. In the third part we review some key contemporary challenges to political systems around the world: the “constitutionalization” of politics, globalization, regionalization, and transnationalization.

This foundational course introduces the student to the nature, major principles, processes and institutions of the international legal system, the relationship between international and domestic law and the role of law in promoting world public order. Students will acquire an understanding of the conceptual issues underlying this discipline and a critical appreciation of how law interacts with contemporary world politics. Topics include the creation and status of international law, participation and competence in the international legal system, primary substantive norms such as the law regulating the use of force and enforcement procedures.

This course will examine the existing international legal framework for the protection of women’s rights and contrast the law with the nearly universal perception that the world of women is a private sphere, one where laws made in the public realm have less weight, or are more difficult to implement due to lack of witnesses, or worse, community acceptance of certain types of gender-based violence. But activists are making progress across the globe in combating insufficient implementation of women’s rights. This course will explore their remarkably innovative strategies to achieve conflict resolution and the protection of women in challenging circumstances.

The module topics change each semester and are taught by working professionals in the fields of international affairs, conflict resolution and civil society development. Each semester four or more different modules are offered.

Articulated within the emergence of the European nation-state and born in the context of the First World War and its aftermath, the discursive field of International Relations is organized around the constitutive concepts of conflict, anarchy, power, system, rule, law, and justice, and the practices of civil society and political economy. These concepts and practices organize, in turn, both the major schools of International Relations theory and contemporary methodological pluralism. This course interrogates these founding concepts from a philosophical perspective within the historical and discursive context of each major school: 1) from classical liberalism to international liberalism; 2) from classical realism to modern realism; 3) the ‘English School’ of IR theory (Bull); 4) Marxist tenets within international relations (from Karl Marx to international political economy); 5) Modern and Contemporary Critical Liberalism (Polanyi and Held); 6) The philosophical grounds of contemporary Constructivism.

“Civil society” is one of the more elusive entries in the social science lexicon, and not a few have argued that we could do well without it. In a critical but appreciative spirit, this seminar introduces to the various meanings and uses that have been attributed to, or made of, civil society across time and national contexts. A constant in its various meanings is the reference to an elementary capacity of social self-organization beyond states and markets. This has made civil society an attractive alternative to diminished states and unfettered markets in the era of globalization, interestingly for the political left and right alike.

Internships are commonly pursued in organizations with sustainable business management, corporate social responsibility, or cross-cultural management initiatives. They are subject to the Program Director’s approval and can be completed in a variety of institutions depending on students’ interests and initiative. The University cannot guarantee placement in an internship but will provide assistance with the internship search. Students must have completed their first semester of MA studies and should contact the Internship Office early for registration purposes.

Credit Model

Timeline

1ST SEMESTER

2ND SEMESTER

3RD SEMESTER

4 core courses

3 core courses

1 elective module

1 elective course

Thesis/Internship

Thesis/Internship Seminar

16 credits

18 credits

6 credits

** Please note that U.S. Federal regulations state that AUP students receiving federal loans cannot do their Internship or write up their thesis in the United States. However students can do an internship in the US when it is not in pursuit of their studies.